‘Elegie’ is the final track on Patti Smith’s celebrated art-punk classic Horses. It was written as a tribute to rock stars who died before their time, including Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin.
The principal inspiration, however, was Jimi Hendrix. Smith quotes two Hendrix lines in the song, including the final lines “I think it’s sad, it’s much too bad that our friends can’t be with us today.”
This song was recorded on September 18, 1975, the fifth anniversary of Hendrix’s death.
My head is aching as I drink and breathe
Memory falls like cream in my bones
Moving on my own
There must be something I can dream tonight
The air is filled with the moves of you
All the fire is frozen yet still I have the will, ooh, ah
Trumpets, violins, I hear them in the distance
And my skin emits a ray
But I think it’s sad, it’s much too bad
That our friends can’t be with us today
Meet Me In Montauk 
A touching tribute.